The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Kalanchoe, botanically known as Kalanchoe hybrida, and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘Lea’.
The new Kalanchoe is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Hinnerup, Denmark, The objective of the breeding program is to create new double-flowered Kalanchoe cultivars with attractive foliage and flower coloration.
The new Kalanchoe originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor in Hinnerup, Denmark in December, 2004, of the Kalanchoe blossfeldiana×Kalanchoe laciniata cultivar African Pearl, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 17,973, as the female, or seed, parent with the Kalanchoe blossfeldiana cultivar Stella, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The cultivar Lea was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a flowering plant from within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled environment in Hinnerup, Denmark in August, 2005.
Asexual reproduction of the new Kalanchoe by vegetative terminal cuttings in a controlled environment in Hinnerup, Denmark since August, 2005, has shown that the unique features of this new Kalanchoe are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.